Trouble & Bass was tapped by the Scion A/V series for their latest release — an EP compiling some of the label’s best acts [download the EP HERE]. We caught Trouble & Bass label founder Drop the Lime this past Tuesday at the “Check Your Ponytail!2″ party when he brought his brand new rockabilly-meets-dance live act to Los Angeles (which we previewed here), and gotta say we were impressed. At first, the idea of someone conflating rockabilly with electro seemed dubious, and we were skeptical as to what Drop the Lime (aka Luca Venezia) would bring to the table. But we had the whole project wrong — it’s not that Venezia intended to layer electro synths over rock n roll guitar, jamming two disparate sounds on top of each other. Instead, what he did was take the rolling drums and rhythm of T&B’s bass music and use that as the foundation to lace over it the inherent groove of 1950s rock n’ roll (the original R&B rhythm and blues). Think the inescapable swing of Elvis or Bill Haley, but augmented with the Diplo school of churning beats underneath and you can begin to grasp the project. All in all, impressive. They still have some kinks and flaws to work out (such as having their Robert Palmer-esque backup singers pretend to play harmonica sample loops), but overall excellent; the project could most definitely cross over. Till it does, enjoy the free EP courtesy of Scion…

Peep a sample of Drop the Lime’s new sound via his “Bourbon Blitz” track below, plus a description of each of Trouble & Bass: Sounds Of NYC’s five new tracks and the artists responsible — Drop the Lime, Hussle Club, Kingdom, Michna and Cubic Zirconia — after the Jump…

Trouble & Bass – Sounds of NYC Trouble & Bass Sounds of NYC – 01 Bourbon Blitz by Hypetrak

1. Drop the Lime – “Bourbon Blitz”
Trouble & Bass’ lead rabble-rouser grew up in Tribeca, the triangle below Canal Street where the Financial District, Chinatown and the Lower East Side rub troubled shoulders. Nurtured by artist parents, trained at (and kicked out of) the finest schools, and debauched by the best ravers and the finest disco-punks, Drop the Lime eventually emerged as the dapper night creature you see today. “Bourbon Blitz” is another example of his ability to tap dance his way across genres, fusing music created in Chicago, London, Berlin, the bayou and beyond into his own house sound.

2. Hussle Club “Quaranteenagers”
Prince Terrence has lived in New York for six years, but he is still able to harness the feeling of first moving to the city: the electric energy, the staying out ’til all hours of the night and forgetting who you are, the wild times where you wonder how you made it through… only to get up the next day and do it all over again. This Detroit native is the epicenter of Hussle Club. On “Quaranteenagers,” as with all his other work, he channels Basquiat, Suicide, Interpol, Blondie, Liquid Liquid, and countless other Downtown revolutionaries into one electro-pop-goth outfit.

3. Michna – “Kings Highway”
After Michna moved to New York from his native Florida in 2003, he quickly became known for DJ sets that melded Miami bass and classic electro with East Coast hip-hop. For his original compositions he built on to these reference points with his own trombone playing, quirky sense of humor and love of techno funk for the trunk. “Kings Highway” is a mesmerizing bass blast that puts the boom in all five boroughs.

4. Kingdom “Uptown Buck”
Kingdom keeps things fresh at all times, whether he’s crafting R&B crunk house or getting his fade touched-up weekly from Greenpoint’s realest Russian barber. He welds the most commercial and the most underground urban music and culture together, then marries them to a post-everything aesthetic. Kingdom is a true original, and “Uptown Buck” is just his latest unclassifiable banger.

5. Cubic Zirconia – “Lucid in the Sky”
Cubic Zirconia have created a misty and funky synthetic swamp, at once mystical, tropical, and totally unpredictable. A trio comprised of Nick Hook, Tiombe Lockhart and Daud Sturdivant, they create a glittering mirage of influences from G-funk to sunset disco to Delta blues to diamonds in the gutter. “Lucid in the Sky” is a woozy vision that will leave you in a waking dream state.